Black Forest Cheesecake

You will need:

1 cup dates*

1 cup nuts (I used a mix of Brazil nuts, almonds and cashews)

1 cup dessicated coconut

2 T coconut oil

Pinch of salt

2 T cacao powder**

4 cups cashew nuts (soaked for 4 hours)***

3/4 cup sweetner (I used half honey, half maple syrup)

Scant 1/2 cup lemon juice

1 tsp salt
1 cup + 60ml Coconut oil, melted
3/4 cup coconut milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup cacao powder

1 overflowing cup berries (I used mostly cherries (pitted) and some strawberries to top up) blended to smooth purée 

2 T gelatin 

1/2 cup water

2 T sweetner (I used coconut sugar)

Food processor

18 or 20 cm Spring form cake tin, I used 18cm and had enough mix left to make a mini cheesecake too.

NOTES:

*depending on your food processor you might need to soak your dates in boiling water first.

**no cacao? Use cocoa instead. What's the difference? Cocoa has been processed at a high heat, stripping the product of some of its vitamins and minerals, whereas cacao is a raw product retaining important nutrients (like magnesium) and antioxidants. 

*** cashew nut free? I'm pretty certain macadamia nuts would work in place of cashews, just soak them overnight first, also you can alter the type of nuts in the base to suit your needs

Base:

1. Put the nuts and coconut in the food processor and blend into course crumbs. 

2. Add the dates, salt and cacao and blend to combine into sticky crumbs that hold together when pressed. 

3. Line the cake tin with baking paper. Press the mix firmly into the bottom of the tin.

Filling:

1. Put the cashews, lemon juice, vanilla, salt and sweetener into the food processor, blend until it's all super smooth and creamy. (While its blending I used my stick blender to blend the berries into a purée).
2. Add the coconut oil and coconut milk and blend again to combine.

3. Get two bowls, Pour 1/3 of the mixture into each bowl. Pour the 1/3 that's left in the processor into the cake tin and return to the freezer. 

4. In one bowl mix in the cacao powder, and in the other mix in 1/3 of the berry purée. 

5. Pour the berry filling on top of the vanilla and swirl it round a little with a knife to create a marble effect. Return tin to the freezer. Let that layer set in the freezer while you make the jelly.

Jelly:

1. Put the berry purée, water and sweetener in a small pot and bring to the boil, then simmer on low. 'Bloom' the gelatin by mixing with 3 T of cold water until it's expanded and thick, then add to the pot. 

2. Stir for 2 minutes until dissolved, taste it to make sure it's delicious. Add more berries, sweetner or whatever, if you need. 

To finish:

1. Add the chocolate filling layer to the cake tin, spoon it over carefully and evenly so it doesn't break through the other layers. 

2. Set in the freezer for 30 mins to an hour while your jelly cools and you clean up the horrific mess in your kitchen. 

3. Add the jelly layer to the top and return to the freezer for another 30 mins. Then you can either keep it in the fridge until it's time to serve (a couple of days) or keep in the freezer and thaw out the day of serving. 

If you are like us and usually stick to cheap ingredients and easy fuss free recipes you can now congratulate yourself on completing this monstrosity! (If you had a child helping in the kitchen and you kept your cool, you can also congratulate yourself on that too). I promise you will be impressed when you unfurl it from its tin, and marvel in its grandeur. 

This is a monster of a cake, we had 8 guests for Christmas lunch and we didn't even make it through half the cake. Serve it plain or dress it up with some fresh berries and whipped coconut cream, it looks magnificent either way!

 

 

If you want to follow more of our creations keep up to date on Chef Ashton's Facebook Page.